This Week In Island History

The news of 10 and 15 years ago is from the Jamestown Press. The news of 100 years ago came from the collection of the Newport Historical Society.

100 years ago

From the Newport Journal, Oct. 20, 1911

Mr. William Baird of Philadelphia was in town last week attending to the work in progress on the new casino grounds. The timbers for moving the Shoreby Hill clubhouse are arriving daily and the foundation on the new site is being prepared.

The concrete sidewalks on Water Street have been completed from the south entrance of Shoreby Hill to Knowles Court, and the trench has been completed to the corner of Narragansett Avenue.

75 years ago

From the Newport Daily News, Oct. 15, 1936

Michael Silvia was at the Town Hall from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., demonstrating the voting machine. Notice will be given later of further demonstrations.

From the Newport Daily News, Oct. 17, 1936

While Manuel Nunes and James Pimentel, who are employed by Samuel Smith Sons Florists, were digging for sand Friday on the Thomas Congdon Watson farm, on the west side of Melrose Avenue, they unearthed eight skeletons. As bones, arrows and pieces of blankets were found, it is assumed that this was an ancient Indian burial ground.

From the Newport Daily News, Oct. 20, 1936

[At the Town Council meeting] it was voted that the communication from Miss Metcalf registering a complaint against poultry being allowed to run unhampered, damaging gardens, in the central part of the town, be received and filed, and Councilman Boone was appointed a committee to investigate the matter.

From the Newport Daily News, Oct. 21, 1936

Arthur S. Clarke of Jamestown caught a striped bass weigh- ing 65 pounds Tuesday evening at Beavertail, Jamestown. The fish, which measures 4 feet, 6 inches in length [and] has a girth of 33 inches, is the largest recorded here in 55 years, it was said. The only one to exceed it in size was one weighing 72 pounds, which old timers recalled, was caught in 1881.

From the Newport Daily News,

Oct. 22, 1936

Andrew J. Williams, the last surviving Civil War veteran in Jamestown, and a resident of the town for the past 54 years, died at his home on Columbia Avenue. He was in his ninety-fifth year.

50 years ago

From the Newport Daily News,

Oct. 17, 1961

The Jamestown School Committee, at a special meeting last night, authorized the purchase of supplies for a new spelling program, the New York curriculum.

From the Newport Daily News,

Oct. 18, 1961

Donald E. Gillis, Jamestown recreation director, announced last night that 77 school children, from grades six through eight, and 26 high school students, have registered in the recently organized dance classes at the school, making a total of 103 now attending the Monday night classes.

From the Newport Daily News,

Oct. 20, 1961

Superior Court jury has brought in a verdict of guilty of grand larceny today [of a Bristol resident. He] was one of the men who pulled more than 3,500 feet of armored submarine cable up from the harbor water between Jamestown and Newport last Nov.1 The stolen cable was valued at $2,000.

Jamestown, for the second year in succession, today was declared to have the best municipal reports of any Rhode Island community under 5,000 population.

The Town Council Tuesday night received a contract from the Rhode Island Solid Waste Management Corporation specifying regulations officials at the central landfill in Johnson plan to enforce. The contract, which the council has indicated it plans to sign, aims at preventing out-of-state waste from coming into the landfill.

The Town Council Tuesday voted unanimously to spend $75,000 to buy two parcels of formerly privately leased land to keep the current configuration of the town-owned golf course intact.

Town officials are proposing an amendment to town laws that would allow taxpayers age 65 or older with limited incomes to defer up to 65 percent of their property taxes. Under the deferral plan, elderly homeowners with a yearly income of more than $10,000 but less than 150 percent of the federal Poverty Guideline are entitled to tax deferral of 60 percent of the assessed value of their property.

Faced with nearly 100 suggested names for the recently completed $24 million cross-island highway, the Town Council Tuesday put off making its choice until its Oct. 28 session. (Suggested road names are included in the article.)

10 years ago

From the Jamestown Press,

Oct. 18, 2001

The Town Council Monday night approved eight municipal water hookups and 12 sewer tie-ins for a proposed two-bedroom apartment complex in the village.

At prior meetings of the recently formed Charter Review Committee, it had been assumed that one of its charges would be to examine the current usefulness and effectiveness of the Financial Town Meeting at which Jamestown’s annual budget is approved by voters. (The committee chair informed the committee members that the charter “doesn’t say if, when or how” the Financial Town Meeting is to be held.)